As fewer and fewer Americans use cash to make purchases large and small, the big winners will be Visa and MasterCard. Plus: Why VeriFone Systems could climb 35%.

The U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing produced 8.4 billion notes last year, including a record three billion hundred-dollar bills. Yet even while cash in circulation is growing, it is becoming increasingly marginalized for retail transactions. This year, greenbacks will account for an estimated 29% of U.S. retail payments, according to McKinsey & Co., down from 36% a decade ago.

And among the wealthy and the upper-middle class, cash is almost extinct in the U.S., having given way to credit and debit cards....